My Protective Charm
by Shiroyuki76
Summary: **Spoiler warning** My take on what might happen after the last chapter 165! So, it might be confusing if you haven't read the chapter.
1. Chapter 1

_********SPOILER WARNING******* **_

_**This is my prediction on the continuation of the latest chapter 165. It is more like a story-line prediction than a fanfic, so it's more like a story with few speeches. Will be just a one or two shots. It will start right at the end of chapter 165. **_

_**Ah.. and this is my first fanfic, never written one before..so please understand if it's not as good as any others, I'm not experienced after all.**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own SkipBeat or any of its characters!** - _They were never mine and will never be mine,.. too bad!_

_*thoughts are in italics*_

_**My Protective Charm**_

Kuon, in Ren's mind, continued to be consumed by the darkness around him after his last memory brought him to the feeling of himself being drowned by the blood of his dying friend. The blood in his imagination continued to rise up to stain his entire body and his face as well. He looked at his own blood stained body and froze, unable to move.  
Ogata and all the other crews had called Ren's name repeatedly "Tsuruga-san..", but to no avail, Ren failed to show any response at all.  
Kyoko stood shell shocked wondered why it turned out that way, Ren looked just like he was after the fight with seaweed head.

Yashiro, Kijima and the other cast was in the bus waiting for the scene to finish (Author's note: let's hope that's where they were, since I didn't see them around the area at all because they would have rushed to Ren's side with the director and Kyoko as well, I don't understand how they didn't hear the disturbing car noise and screams that even Kyoko heard from her own set). Because of all the commotion, they got out of the bus wondering what's going on, the car-chase scene should already been finished, but they hadn't seen Ren or Ogata, so some of them got out to check on it.

Yashiro and Kijima saw the gathering around Ren's car and rushed there. They learned about Ren's situation and Yashiro leaned in front of Ren, calling "Ren.. Ren.. what's wrong?", and was shocked to see Ren's expression, still with no response. Kyoko saw that it was not going well and decided to give it a try. She was able to pull him out of that same expression before when they were playing Heel siblings. So she requested if she could try talking to him. She went there and called "Tsuruga-san..?" No response, and she leaned over in front of Ren's face and touched his chest with her palm, and called again "Tsuruga-san.. Tsuruga-san..". They saw Ren suddenly moved with a slight jolt.

In Ren's mind, Kuon was paralyzed, with darkness around him and no way out. Suddenly he heard a little voice in a little spark of light beside him calling "..ru..ga..san".. Kuon wondered who it was and what it was saying.. then a small hand came out in the dark and touched his chest. He jolted a little and felt warm at the spot the palm had touched. The blood stained around the palm dispersed and keep spreading throughout his body clearing out all the stain gradually and Kuon felt warm and relief. At the same time the blood stains was dispersing, more of the hand that touched him was showing and it showed a 6 years old Kyoko with twin pig tails standing in front of Kuon, smiling at him and telling him it's alright. Kuon smiled at her and said.. "Thank you,… Kyoko-chan..".

After giving the slight jolt, Ren's eyes is starting to have a life in it again and recognition showed in his eyes as he stared in front of him. Leaning sideways over the steering wheel is Kyoko in Natsu getup, looking at him with worried face. And at the same time as Kuon in his mind, he smiled heavenly at her and murmured.. "Thank you, ..Kyoko-chan.."

Ren glanced around him and found that Yashiro, Director Ogata, Kijima, and some of DarkMoon crews were watching him with worried face, but all sighed in relief to see him out of his immobilized state. Kyoko, though surprised at Ren's sudden used of her surname, quickly moved out of his way, and straightened back up. She rationalized that Ren must be in delirious state after being snapped out of whatever that was immobilizing him, enough to suddenly call her "Kyoko-chan", so she immediately asked him, "are you alright, .. Tsuruga-san?". He smiled at her, "I'm alright, Mogami-san, thank you for your concern." Then he smiled and addressed the crowd in front of him, "I am sorry for making you guys worry, I am fine now." Everybody was relief to see him okay, but wondering why he snapped out of his state only when Kyoko called him. They made sure that he did not have injuries that he needs to go to the hospital for, which Ren firmly confirmed that he has no physical injuries.

Director Ogata and the crews walked away to take care of other issues resulting from this little incident, since they most likely will have to repeat the same scene again. Director Ogata is concerned on whether or not Ren will be able to redo this scene, or if he should let Ren do it considering his last state. He pushed the thought aside to attend to matters at hand, and thought he could always get a stuntman for Ren if needed.

Kijima glanced at Kyoko in her Natsu getup,… _hm, she's a real beauty and more mature just like rumored earlier.._ so he walked over to her and smiled at her "Hey, Kyoko-chan,.. I heard you came by to visit us at the bus earlier, and I finally get to say hi to you. How are you doing?" he smiled at her. Kyoko bowed at him and smiled back prettily ,"Good afternoon Kijima-san, I'm doing great, thank you for your concern." Ren narrowed his eyes a little, unhappy with Kijima's sudden interest in Kyoko, but then quickly returned to his gentlemanly smile. Standing beside Ren, Yashiro could hardly hold his amusement at Ren's jealousy.. _Let's see what he will do this time, since he can't "hide" her like last time anymore..*snickered*.._

Ren greets Kijima "Hi, Kijima-kun. Are they doing your scene next?" _.. if not, then please leave_.. "Eh? Oh, Tsuruga-kun, glad to see you're not hurt, .. no, not yet, the director is still busy setting everything up."

Kijima returned to Kyoko again, "Kyoko-chan, you really look great in this getup, it looks very pretty on you, and very mature." Kyoko blushed at the compliment, "Oh, thank you.. I'm so happy, This is my costume for the drama I'm working on currently. It's the make-up and the hair-style that makes me looks mature like my character supposed to be…". Kijima stared at her, "hm, I don't think it's just the make up and hair style, there's something else, the confidence you have is…". Kijima didn't get to finish his sentence, because in the matter of few seconds, Ren suddenly grabbed Kyoko and twirled her around, she ended up with her back facing Ren, Ren's right hand is lightly touching the left side of her waist, and his left hand is holding Kyoko's right hand (author's note: the same position at that time in Karuizawa when Kyoko was talking to Sho under the staircase and Ren appeared).

Ren flashed his gentlemanly smile again .."Isn't she? Thanks for your compliment to my kouhai." He emphasized the word Kouhai…"Don't you still have shooting for Box-R, Mogami-san?" he addressed Kyoko. Kyoko who was originally confused with Ren's behavior is suddenly snapped back to attention.. face paled, "NOOOO! my job.. I'm so unprofessional, I'm soooo SORRY, Tsuruga-san." Before she turned around to face Ren and dropped to the floor to apologize, Ren grabbed her arm tighter to prevent her from doing so. Kyoko suddenly remembered something, she glanced around, saw her Box-R director is currently talking to director Ogata, so she sighed in relief.. "Ah.. I'm okay, my director is still here. I just have to return quickly before he leaves here… Thank you for reminding me Tsuruga-san." She then turned around, bowed to Ren and Kijima "I'll be going then. Tsuruga-san, ..Kijima-san" Kijima smiled at her, "Sure, Kyoko-chan.. see you around other time." Ren also smiled, "See you later, Mogami-san."

Meanwhile.. Sudou Yuko, the actress who played Tugumi in Box-R, who had rushed to the DarkMoon set after hearing that Tsuruga Ren might be in accident saw the whole incident with Kyoko, Ren and Kijima. As well as some other Dark Moon casts like Momose-san and Oohara-san, and crews who saw the interactions between those three, were all surprised to see Ren and Kijima were silently battling over the oblivious actress.

Anyway, Tugumi had arrived a little later after Kyoko, she was a slower runner compared to Kyoko super fast dash, plus she was the last one to run out of Box-R set. To top it off, she was stuck in the crowd of bystander, trying to find her way and not sure how to get into the DarkMoon set. Even though it was not a close set, there are still people guarding the area to prevent random fans from mobbing at the celebrities during their shooting. And unfortunately, unlike Kyoko who was part of the DarkMoon cast and was known by all the DarkMoon crews, Tugumi was neither part of the cast, nor was she well-known enough yet as an actress, she had only been in small roles and was still considered a newbie. So she could only watch from a far while trying to search for Tsuruga Ren. When she finally saw him, he was already outside of the car and was talking to Kyoko and Kijima. She was walking towards them when she saw the way Ren held Kyoko in front of Kijima… _Eeeehhh? Are those two dating? .. they must be, wow.. lucky for Kyoko-san.. I wish I could date Tsuruga-san too.. _Then she saw Kyoko left in a hurry.

Kijima was stunned at Ren's sudden behavior towards Kyoko. But of course he got the message that Ren intended to send to him loud and clear. Those gestures could only mean. "She's mine, back off!" Kijima smirked.. _Well, surely the girl doesn't seem to realize it, so the battle is still on.. this is getting really interesting.._ "So, Tsuruga-kun, you have Kyoko-chan's personal cell phone number, right?" Ren smiled his gentlemanly smile at him, "Yes, of course I do.. by the way, I have to go discuss the scene with director, excuse me.. " .. _It's not like I'll ever give you her phone number._.Ren and Yashiro walked away immediately to talk to Director Ogata regarding the scene. Kijima chuckled at Ren's reaction.. _Oh well, I guess that's to be expected.._

Kijima noticed Tugumi standing not too far from them looking around unsure what to do. _Hmm.. that girl, she's wearing the same costume uniform like Kyoko-chan.. maybe she's her co-star?.._ "Hi there, are you a co-star of Kyoko-chan?" Kijima greeted her. Tugumi blushed at Kijima, she was happy that a handsome actor like Kijima paid attention to her. She's a big fan of Tsuruga Ren because he's number one on the chart for the most desirable man in Japan, but she likes handsome celebrities in general, and Kijima was one of them, he was not number one like Ren, but still in the top ten list. "Yes, I stared with Kyoko-san as one of her classmates.".. Kijima smiled at her.. _good, maybe I can get more information on Kyoko-chan, and most of all, Box-R shooting schedule, visiting Kyoko-chan on set might not be a bad idea, she looks pretty in her costume and I can get to know her better… _

5 minutes later and few coaxings on Kijima's part, Tugumi rushed back to her own set blushing at Kijima's praise of how cute she was, but horrified that she would be late back to the set, the director was gone 3 minutes ago, and he actually could run or walk a lot faster than Tugumi could. Kijima, however.. walked away smiling, with a complete shooting schedules for Box-R for the next 2 weeks in his hand, and a couple of phone numbers.

**That evening…at the hotel basement parking lot**

Ren dressed up as Cain was sitting in Lory's giant limo, with a painful expression on his face. Kyoko is in the mobile trailer next to the limo, with Jelly fixing her Setsu make over.

"What's wrong? I heard you had a little incident at DarkMoon shooting location today, did "that" bother you again?" Lori inquired. Ren just looked down, with the same painful and sad expression. Lori sighed.. "I guess it can't be helped, it was a car scene after all."

"So, what's your decision? … regarding Setsu,.. have you told her? I guess you didn't, or she wouldn't be here right now." Lori looked at Ren.

Ren looked up, sighed .."I couldn't say it,… that kind of cruel words," Lori smirked.. _this boy, he just admit it out loud, that he couldn't say cruel things to her.. considering he's an actor who should be able to say anything to anybody (just like reciting a movie script).. and he couldn't say it to her.. well, that's a guy in love for you.. *grins*.._

"Besides.." Ren continued, "after what happened today, .. I realized that you're right, she's my talisman after all," he gave Lori a small smile, "the most powerful one of all, and I find that I wouldn't be able to live without her now."

**Author's note:**

Hmm.. that's it for now. I don't really have a plot, that's basically predictions for the next 2 chapters (LOL, I don't think one 30-pages chapter manga could contain that much information, so gotta be two at least).

As for after this.. hm, maybe they (Cain and Setsu) will be back in their hotel room, and we can have other 2nd night comical situation (1st night being Setsu walked in on Cain in the shower), so now.. should Cain 'accidentally' see the content of Setsu's shopping bag? (hint: the erokawa (erotic) panties Kyoko got for Setsu that day?) LOL.. **any ideas on how that will happen?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, here we go again. I did say it was one or two shots. So I decided to give 2****nd**** chapter a try. Hope you like it! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own SkipBeat or any of its characters!** - _They were never mine and will never be mine,.. too bad! *pouts*_

_*thoughts are in italics*_

_**Chapter 2 - My Protective Charm**_

**That evening in the hotel room**

Bustling around cooking in the kitchen, Setsu glanced at Cain. He was just slumping on the couch with his feet crossed on the table in front of him, and seemed to be in deep thought, but his face didn't betray any expression at all.

Kyoko in Setsu's mind thought.. _I hope he's okay, he looks indifferent right now, but.. just now.. that expression I saw.. kind of makes me worry._ After getting out of the make-up trailer as Setsu, Kyoko happened to see Ren's painful expression through the limo's window. The same expression that worried her after Katsuki's acting test that day.

Things seem to be back to normal after the car incident that afternoon. Ren was able to re-shoot the car scene successfully without further incident, and they were able to finish the day's shootings with only a little delay. Things were going smoothly at Box-R set as well, after Tugumi returned to the set, they repeated the scene where they pushed Rumiko into the pond. No further delays happened, and much to Kyoko's delight, princess Rosa necklace stayed on her neck and did not fall off a second time that day. However, Kyoko noticed that there were little whispers paired with small glances at her way going around the Box-R set during break time, centering around Tugumi and her 2 other co-stars, Kaori and Rumika. _I wonder what's that was about?…_ Kyoko wondered, recalling the day's event. _Oh well, better focus at task at hand first.._

Setsu turned around with her spatula in one hand, walked to stand beside Cain at the couch, bended her waist sideways to look at Cain in the face. "Nii-san.. why don't you take a shower while I finish cooking? Dinner should be ready by the time you're done."

Cain just nodded, stood up and walked towards the bathroom. After the bathroom door closed behind him, he sank to the floor on his knee, with both fists resting on his forehead, wearing the same painful expression. The memory of his past was reminding him of who he was and why he didn't deserve to be happy. He closed his eyes, took his gloves off and grabbed the broken watch on his right wrist with his left hand.

Setsu had just finished cooking. She glanced at the bathroom door, _hm.. it's been 45 minutes, I guess he should be done soon, he takes long showers after all.. yes, that's right. I shouldn't be panic, no need to run in to check on him, Setsu knows her brother's long shower habit…_ she blushed when she remembered their shower incident just the night before.

Setsu proceeded to set the table up with the fresh cooked meal. It was a simple katsu-don with miso soup, something easy to make with the limited space and supplies in the hotel room.

Few moments later, Cain exited the bathroom in his white bathrobe. They sit down and had their dinner together. After that Cain went to his bed and sat down at the side of it facing Setsu's bed. Setsu was busy gathering her stuffs for a bath, she walked past the corner of her bed and accidentally knocked her shopping bag down, causing its contents to spill onto the floor. She turned around intending to gather it, but Cain was already there picking the contents of the bag up intending to put it back into the bag. When he glanced at it… Ren inside Cain is stunned shock. Cain himself was speechless for a while, staring at the little tiny black erokawa panties that Setsu had bought earlier in the day, while trying to keep the expression on his face as blank as possible.

Meanwhile, Kyoko was panicking inside Setsu, embarrassed and fighting to keep the blush of her face, .._Setsu won't blush, right.. she wouldn't care even if her brother sees her underwear purchase…_ Kyoko wanted to jump and yanked the offensive undergarments out of Cain's hand immediately, but it will be out of character for Setsu to act like an embarrassed girl. So she forced herself to calm down, walked to Cain, smiled sweetly and said.. "Ah, Nii-san.." she took the panties and the shopping bag slowly out of Cain's hand, "it's my new purchase from today, thanks for picking it up." Then she continued to stuff the item back into its bag. "Now I'm going to take my bath, why don't you relax for a while?" But as she turned around and about to walk away, Cain smirked and murmured.. "Ah.. so.. Setsu likes that underwear. Two pairs won't be enough, I should go buy another ten similar pairs…". Setsu snapped her head back towards her brother with her jaw hanging open in surprise.

"Nii-san, that's not necessary, don't spend any more money on me, 2 pairs should be enough. You should get yourself a pair of new shoes or even new 10 pairs of underwear for yourself.. don't worry about me."

_Did I just say that?... NOOO, I sounded so perverted.._ Kyoko screamed in her mind.

Cain pulled out his best puppy dog look at Setsu (one could see 2 little puppies showed up behind him).. "Panties for Setsu.. 10 pairs…."

Setsu flinched at the puppy dog eyes look, she couldn't deal with him when he looked like that, but decided to stand her ground anyway.. well, some part of the ground.. "NO, I don't need 10 pairs. That's too much.."..

The look on Cain's face intensified and 2 more puppies had come running to join the other 2 there.. ".. 7 pairs..".

Setsu, trembling with the word "Almost defeated" written clearly on her forehead, "Fine.. but just 3 pairs."

But Cain didn't give up.. "…. 5 pairs…" he added a cute pout to the puppy dog eyes this time.

One minute later, Kyoko slumped to the floor leaning against closed the bathroom door behind her. "Haaa..." she sighed. _I can't believe I let him talked me into buying me those embarrassing underwear… 5 pairs at that.. but..but that puppy dog eyes of him… just.._ she hugged herself trembling.. _sooooo cute… I felt like hugging him…_ Then she suddenly remembered something, and paled in horror… _NOOO! ….Do I really have to take him to that underwear store and let him buy them for me? … NOOO! That must be a joke…_

Meanwhile, Ren was sitting on his bed smiling tenderly towards the closed bathroom door. _I can't believe she did it again.. *chuckle*... that was shocking.. I was so shocked at what I found in the bag that I actually forgot about my past and problems for a few moments… that incident had been constantly in my mind since the car scene this afternoon, I hadn't been able to forget it for even just a second, even after she snapped me out of my frozen state. Only she can do it.. after all, she really my protective charm… Ah.. what am I going to do without her?_

**Author's note:**

Ok, here is chapter#2.. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue after this. I only intended for it to be a short predictions of the next couple of chapters after 165. I know I left a lot of open possibilities for more plots, like Kijima's intention to visit Kyoko on Box-R set, and might try to pursue her, Ren's reaction to that, Cain and Setsu buying erokawa panties together *blush*.. So I'll need to think of an actual plot rather than writing a prediction out of my wimp like this.

Also.. I'm sorry that this chapter seems to be a repeat of what happened in the manga just the day before (they arguing over how many pairs of pants to buy for Setsu).. I didn't mean to just copy the whole situation.. but really, I just can't think of any other possible reaction for Cain other than that.. plus it was fun. LOL *grins*

So, we'll see if I could get ideas on what to write next, or how to continue this. Please let me know if you have ideas to contribute, or what you want to see happen after this.

However, if I continue, it will be a while before I post again; I have homework and exams due this week.

**Thanks to everybody who reviewed, favorite-d, and alerted this story. I really appreciate the encouragement and kind words.**

*runs of to get ready for Halloween.*


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